Global communication platform and nexus of social media to some and just “a series of tubes” to others, the Internet certainly revolutionized communications. But how exactly does it work, and how did it get started?
Joe Janes, professor in the UW Information School, takes up the questions in the latest installment of his podcast series, “Documents that Changed the World.” (more…)
For the latest installment of his Documents that Changed the World podcast series, Joe Janes takes a look at a small book that had a huge impact.
“Quotations from Chairman Mao Tsetung,” also known as Mao’s “Little Red Book,” was published in 1965 and became one of the most widely printed and distributed books in history. Publication ceased in 1979 following Mao’s fall from favor and death but started again sporadically in 1993.
During Mao’s heyday, Janes notes, “(T)he goal was for 99 percent of the population of China to read it; it was an unofficial requirement to own, read and carry it at all times during the Cultural Revolution.” (more…)
A groundbreaking book presents new evidence that challenges the way we understand British and Irish responses to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
Almost 100 years since its outbreak, A Kingdom United presents the first ever fully-documented study of British and Irish popular reactions to the outbreak of the First World War. University of Exeter historian Dr Catriona Pennell has explored UK public opinion of the time and successfully challenges the myth of British ‘war enthusiasm’ and Irish disengagement.
Treating the UK as the state that it was in 1914 – the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland – the research is based on a vast array of contemporary diaries, letters, journals and newspaper accounts from across the country. The book explores what people felt and how they acted in response to an unanticipated and unprecedented crisis. (more…)
